Ice tray



U. A. WHITAKER Nov. 28, 1939.

ICE TRAY Filed Sept. l2, 195,8

INVENTOR /3 linea.;` A. Whitaker ATTORNEY Patented Nov. l28, 1939 UNITED STATES ICE TRAY Uncas A. Whitaker, anton, Ohio, assignor to The Hoover Company, North Canton, Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio Application September 12, 193s, serial No. 229,414

1s claims. (01. s2-108.5)

This invention relates to refrigeration, and more particularly to anice tray adapted to be positioned in the freezing compartment of a domestic refrigerator.

The usual procedure in removing ice cubes from a freezing tray of a domestic refrigerator is 'to remove the tray having frozen cubes of ice there'- in from the freezing compartment and placing in a warm place until the cubes have melted loose or to pour hot water over the bottom of the tray until the grid assembly and attached cubes have melted loose from the tray; then remove the grid assembly and attached cubes from the tray and run more hot Water over the attached cubes and grid assembly to melt the cubes loose from the grid assembly. The first procedure necessitates the removal of the tray with the frozen cubes from the freezing compartment long before the cubes will be needed so as to allow time for the ,l cubes to melt loose. Both of these methods also result in the wastage of ice since in melting loose the cubes become reduced in size. lIhe melting Water on the surface of the cubes also make them slippery and hard to handle and' the melting g5 water messes up the kitchen unless special precautions are taken. V

' It has also been proposed to remove the grid assembly and attached cubes from the tray by means of a mechanical leverage mechanism and then to remove the attached cubes from the grid assembly by handl or by some other leverage mechanism.

These devices have not been entirely satisfactory due to the fact that it requires the application of a considerable amount of force to remove the grid assembly and attached cubes from the tray and also to remove the cubes from the grid assembly. These prior art devices are also complicated and expensive to manufacture and wear out easily thus necessitating periodical replace--` ment.

Prior devices also have th`e disadvantage that.

the releasing mechanism is associated with the comparatively small grid assembly whichnecessitates the removal of the releasing mechanism along with the grid assembly; and also results in a. very complex grid assembly structure.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide an icetray in which thereleasingmechanism for the grid assemblyand attached cubes is vpermanently associated with the tray itself.

It is another object of this invention to provide anice tray in which only a small force need be applied to remove the grid assembly and attached cubes from the tray. F

More particularly, it is an object of this invention to provide an ice tray having a exible par- -tition therein dividing the tray into an upper open compartment and a lower sealed compartment containing a fluid to which pressure may be applied so as to flex the partition upwardly and release ice from the upper compartment.

It is another object of thisl invention to provide any improved process whereby ice cubes may be easily removed from an ice tray. lIIr It is .another object of this invention to provide an ice tray which is simple in operation andl easy and economical to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the description proceeds l l5 when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of V one embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view on line 2-2 2I) of Figure 1; l f

Figure 3 is a perspective View of-another emebodiment of the invention partlybroken away to show the operating mechanism for applying pres sure to the fluid beneatlrthe partition. 25

Referring to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawing, the numeral I0 indicates an ice tray having side walls II, end walls I2 andbottom I3. The side Walls II and the end Walls I2 are extended upwardly and outwardly to form a flange I4 extend- 30 ing entirely around the tray. A thin metallic partition I5, such as spring steel, having an. up,-

wardly extending flange I6 is welded to the interior of the tray so as to divide it into an upper, open ice receiving'v compartment and a llower 35 sealed compartment. A piston chamber yI'I ,having a tube I8 lcommunicating with the interior of the lower sealed compartment is secured to theI front of the tray by means of bracket l'welded to the front of the tray. A piston 20 having an operating handle 2| is mounted to reciprocate in the chamber I1 by means of a cover member 22 for the chamber having anopening therein to slidably receivel the piston rod 23. An aperture 2,4 is .provided in the 45 cover member 22 so that a vacuum will not be produced when the piston is operated. With the piston in upper position .as shown in Figure 1, the chamber I'I and the vlower sealed compartment of the tray is filled withany non-freezing 50 liquid 25 vsuch as glycerine; y

Removably positioned into the upper ice form- -ing compartment of the tray is a grid assembly generally indicatedy at 26 made up of a central longitudinal grid member 21 of 'rubber or other 56 suitable flexible and moldable material. fm-l bedded in the central longitudinal grid member 21 are lateral grid members 28 which together with the central longitudinal grid members divide the upper ice freezing compartment of the tray into a plurality of cube compartments. The lateral gridvmembers 28 are staggered as shown to give great lateral flexibility to the grid assembly. The lateral grid members 28 need not be staggered as shown but could be positioned directly opposite each other, with the parts extending on opposite sides of the central longitu'dinal grid members made integral and provided with openings at their center so that vthey could be molded into the rubber of the central longitudinal grid member. Y

The grid assembly need not be made of metal and rubber as shown but could be made entirely of rubber or any other suitable material.

As shown in Figure 2, the bottom I3 of the tray is corrugated so as to make it comparatively rigid. The corrugation need not be made as shown but could easily extend laterally across the bottom of the tray or the bottom of the tray could be rein.- forced in some other manner.-

The chamber I1, bracket member I9, piston rod 23 and handle 2I may be used as a hand grip for handling the tray when removing and replacing it in the freeze chamber of .a refrigerator so that no additional handle is necessary.k

With the piston 20 in theposition shown 4in Figure 1, the upper ice freezing compartment of the tray is filled with water to be frozen and the tray is then positioned in the freezing compartment o f a domestic refrigerator and left there until the wate has become frozen. The tray is then re. mov d from the freezing compartment in any suitable manner and pressure is applied to the handle 2l forcing the piston 20 downwardly in the chamber I1, causing the uid 25 to be forced into the lower sealed compartment of the tray which will cause the flexible partition member I to bulge upwardly releasing the grid assembly and attached cubes from the walls of the tray as shown in Figure 2. The grid assembly 26 and the attached cubes can then be easily raised from the tray and flexed laterally so asfto remove the indi'- vidual cubes from the grid assembly.

Due to the fact that the diameter of piston 20 is comparatively small in area with relation to the flexible diaphragm I5, only a small amount of pressure need be applied to the handle 2l to release the grid assembly and attached cubes from the tray. The bottom I3 of the tray being corrugated or otherwise reinforced will not ex downwardly thus assuring that the flexible partition will be bulged upwardly. 'I'he .exible partition member I5 is made `so as to normally maintain the position shownin full lines of Figure 2, and

when bulged upwardly to the positionI shown in' dotted lines of Figure 2 it will snap backwardly to the full line position when pressure on the piston is released. If desired, any convenient form of biasing means may be located in the lower compartment to insure the return of diaphragm I5 to I its unbulged position.

The longitudinal corrugations inv bottom I3 enable the lateral width of the tray to be shortened when pressure, is applied to the piston to allow greater flexing of diaphragm I5. If necessary, flange I6 of member I5 can be attached to the tray walls only at its upper edge so as to permit of greater flexibility by permitting the lower portion to draw'awafy from the tray walls when the central portion of the diaphragm is flexed upwardly.

Due to the fact that the flexible partition member I5.y bulges upwardly at the central longitudinal grid member, the outer edges of the cubes will be released lfrom the flexible partition I5 first, so that a tearingvstress is applied to the bond between the exible partition member and the cubes. At the same time, the whole grid assembly and the attached cubes are raised upwardly so as to apply a shearing stress on the bond between the walls II and I2 and the cubes.

When the grid assembly and attached cubes are removed from the tray and flexed laterally, the outer ends of the lateral grid members will be separated so as to apply a tearing stress on the bond between the cubes and the lateral grid members 28 and at the same time,A the central longi- `tudinal grid member 21 will be flexed so as to be las that just described except for the operating mechanism for applying pressure to the fluid in the lower sealed compartment.v The front wall I2 of the tray is extended outwardly and-downwardly to form a housing 42 for a uid reservoir 29. The bottom 30 of the reservoir 29 is extended downwardly and hollowed out to form a cylinder 3| to slidably receive a piston 32 having a piston rod 33 extending through the closure 34 of the cylinder.- A lever 35 is pivoted to an extension of the cylinder walls and is connected by a loose connection to the pis/ton rod 33 so that a pivotal movement of the lever 35 will reciprocate the piston 32 in the cylinder 3 I A spring 36 coiled about the pivot pin for the lever 35 holds the piston 32 in' interior of the cylinder 3I by means of an aperf ture 39 normally closed by means of a spring pressed check valve 4I). The reservoir 29 also communicates with the duct 31 by means of'a minute aperture y When it is desired to remove the ice from the freezing compartment of the tray, the lever 35 is pressed downwardly which forces' the piston upwardly, opening check valve 38 and forcing the uuid in the cylinder 3| through the duct 31 into the sealed compartment in the bottom-of the tray, exing the partition upwardly and releasing the grid assembly and attached cubes as described in connection with the modification of Figures 1 and 2. When the lever 35 is released, the spring 35 will force it upwardly and consequently the piston downwardly to the bottom of the cylinder 3l drawing liquid into the cylinder from the reservoir 2.9 through the aperture 39 vby forcing the checl valve 49 to open against the action of the spring'. This causes the fiexible portion of the reservoir l29 to bulge inwardly but since the fiexf ible partition member I 5 and the flexible portion 4of the reservoir. 29 both have a natural tendency toreturn totheir normal positions, the excess fluid in the sealed compartment in the bottom of the tray will slowly iiow back to the reservoir 29 throu'gh the minute aperture 4 I. If one stroke of the piston is not sufficient to release the ice from the tray, the lever can be operated repeatedly until the ice is released. The remainder of the operation is the same as that described in connection with the modification of Figures 1 and 2.

The use of hydraulic means for releasing the ice from the tray eliminates to a great extent the frictional forces present in prior vcube release devices and thereby makes .it unnecessary to apply so great a manual force in releasing the ice from the tray.

'I'he piston and cylinder can be replaced by a sylphon bellows pump if desired with leverage means for operating it. If one stroke is not sufiicient to release the ice, inwardly and outwardly. opening check valves could be provided with the bellows pump so that it could be operated repeatedly. l

The piston and cylinder could be arranged horizontally so that the lever could also be arranged horizontally and thus allow for a longer lever and therefore greater mechanical advantage.

From the foregoing, it can be seen that this invention has provided andice tray in which the ice cubes vcan be easily removed by the application of only a small force and without the necessity of handling wet and slippery cubes, which is simple and ellcient in operation and easy and economical to manufacture.

While I have illustrated and described but two embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that these embodiments are to be taken as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense. I do not wish to be limited to the exact disclosure but to include all equivalent variations thereof except as limited by the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. An ice cube tray having a resilient partition therein dividing said tray into an upper compartment and a lower sealed compartment, a uid in said lower compartment and means for applying -pressure to said fluid whereby the partition is exed upwardly to release ice from said tray.

2. An ice tray for a domestic refrigerator having a exibie partition therein `dividing said tray into an upper open compartment and a lower sealed compartment, a uid in said lower compartment and means for applying pressure to said 'fluid whereby the partition is iiexed upwardly to release ice from said tray, said pres- -sure applying means being inthe form of a fluid pump. y

3. .An ice cube tray having a resilient partition therein dividing said tray into `an upper open compartment and a lower sealed compartment, a grid assembly in said upper compartment, said grid assembly comprising a resilient longitudinal grid member and rigid lateral grid members secured thereto, a uid in said bottom compartment and means whereby a pressure may be applied to said uid to flex the partition upwardly .to remove said grid assembly and attached cubes from the tray.

4. An ice cube tray, flexible means dividing said tray into upper and lower compartments, a fluid in said lower compartment, a handle for said tray and means associated with said handle for applying pressure to said uid.

5. An ice cube tray, a grid assembly removably positioned therein, said grid assembly comprising a resilient longitudinal grid member and rigid lateral grid members, said lateral grid members on opposite sides of said longitudinal grid .member being secured in staggered relation to said longitudinal grid member and means be-r neath said grid assembly for ejecting cubes from said tray. v

6. An ice cube tray, a grid assembly removably positioned therein, said grid assembly comprising a resilient longitudinal grid member and rigid lateral grid members, said lateral grid members being secured in staggered relation to said longitudinal grid member and means beneath said grid assembly for ejecting cubes from said tray, said cube ejecting means being sealed from said grid assembly.

7. An ice cube tray, a resilient partition dividing said tray into an upper open compartment and a lower compartment, a grid assembly removably` positioned in said upper compartment and means in said lower compartment to flex said partition upwardly to release said grid assembly and attached cubes from said tray, said grid assembly being so constructed as to be flexed laterally to release individual cubes from said grid assembly.

8. An ice cube tray, an elastic partitiondividing said tray into an upper open compartment and a lower compartment, a grid assembly removably positioned in said upper compartment ""and means in said lower compartment to ex said partition upwardly to release said grid assembly and attached cubes from said tray, said 'grid assembly being so constructed as to be capable of being exed laterally to remove individual cubes from said grid assembly and said ilexing means comprising a fluid motor.

9. An ice cube tray, a flexible partition dividing said tray into upper and lower compartments,

said tray having a reinforced bottom and a fluid iilling the space between the partition and the bottom.

10. An ice cube tray, a exible partition dividing said tray into upper and lower compartments,

` said tray having a corrugated bottom, Aa. fluid iilling the space between the partition and bottom and means for applying pressure to said uid.

11. An ice tray, resilient means sealing oli a portion of said tray, cube yreleasing means beneath said resilient sealing means, and manually actuatable means for transmitting force to said cube releasing means.

12. In combination, an ice tray having an ice compartment, manually actuatable force transmitting means beneath said compartment for breaking the bond between .the ice and tray and flexible sealing means between said compartment and said force transmitting means.

13. An ice cube tray, flexible means sealing oif a portion of said tray, cube releasing means between said exible sealing means and the tray,

and means for transmitting force to said cube releasing means, said cube releasing means comprising hydraulic means. l,

UNc`As ArwrnTAKER. 

